Fruitful waste sorting experiment carried out by Tallinn University students

Students carried out a waste sorting experiment. In collaboration with the waste management company, one disposal container of the university’s waste was opened and sorted in the company’s waste sorting station. Waste was separated according to its origin and according to the disposal regulations. The results were alarming for the Maintenance Office of the university. Although there is a separate container for paper waste, almost half of the container for mixed waste was filled with paper waste. Even more alarming was the fact that approximately one third of the container was organic waste, originating from the cafeterias operating on the campus. Using the records of security cams, it was detected that in the early mornings, the first workers in the cafeterias placed their bags of waste into the university’s waste containers. The contracts with cafeterias state that they are responsible for the disposal arrangements of their own waste. Within a week all contracts with cafeterias and food service operators were changed and their responsibility for their own waste management was restated more clearly. Inspired by these results, it was decided to continue similar waste sorting experiments annually to determine whether the habits of university members are changing over the years. To support this, the students of Environment Management decided to take responsibility for the waste management plan for the university.